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NATO protest reflections: Winning tactics vs. dead ends

John Bachtell — Thu, 24 May 2012 16:00:00 -0400

CHICAGO - One by one, they threw their medals toward the generals and statesmen behind the high barricades surrounding the NATO Summit in Chicago last week. Nearly 50 veterans made history, rejecting the lies of the 1% that justified shipping them to war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It was one of the most profoundly moving events I have ever witnessed.

Unfortunately, their story of courage and heroism, and the largely peaceful nature of the May 20 protest and week of protests leading up to it, was buried behind headlines of violent clashes between some protesters and police.

There were in fact two protests that day: the organized mass peaceful expression - which ended with the veterans asking people to disperse peacefully - and then the confrontation with police afterward.

No one, certainly not the coalition that organized the main ceremony and march, sanctioned the confrontation and the desire by some to march through police barricades to the site of the NATO Summit.

Police violence at the demonstration and during the week, the 45 arrests and ongoing detentions, the holding at gunpoint of independent journalists who were "live streaming" the events, the alleged entrapment of several young activists on terrorism charges - all these must and are being widely condemned.

However, neither can they excuse or justify in any way the provocations that emanated from some protesters.

These incidents overshadowed the largely nonviolent nature of the protests and drowned out the main message: End the wars and militarization and reallocate desperately needed funds to create jobs and fund education, health care and affordable housing.

They especially overshadowed the veterans' message, which has wide and deep resonance among the American people.

They also overshadowed the struggle waged for the right to protest, for free speech and assembly, and the fight against Mayor Rahm Emanuel's "Sit Down and Shut Up" ordinances.

These experiences provide important tactical lessons for the peace and justice and Occupy movements to reflect on, especially for the many young, deeply committed activists who possess a fervent hatred of capitalism, gross inequality and injustice, and who are gaining valuable experiences in this upsurge.

Among the Occupy (and earlier anti-globalization) movements, a problematic trend has developed. That trend has a political expression, which sees confrontation with police, vandalism and hyper-aggressive tactics as its central tenets.

This trend usually manifests itself in the self-proclaimed "Black Bloc." Its tactics here at the NATO protests, which included bullying peaceful protesters, alienated the overwhelming majority of us who marched.

Why can a small yet disruptive grouping wreak so much havoc on a majority peaceful movement? Because there is a trend among the left that also sees confrontation with the police as a viable revolutionary and anti-capitalist tactic, and therefore accommodates groups like the Black Bloc in the name of "diversity of tactics."

It is said in the name of "inclusiveness" that those who profess confrontational tactics have a right to do so, that tactics of nonviolence and confrontation can co-exist in one movement.

Unfortunately, march organizers decided not to publicly renounce violence on the grounds of preserving unity. Instead they only spoke out against the violence the emanates from NATO and police.

Such tactics and talk may sound militant and even appear to be delivering a blow against capitalism. But, on the contrary, they play into the hands of the 1%.

Let's be real. In order to confront ruling class power, a broad-based unified, diverse and mobilized movement among wide sections of the American people is necessary. Tactics - from the forms of protest to the kinds of demands and slogans - play a major part in mobilizing, unifying and winning over broad sections of the public.

The American people understand the use of nonviolent civil disobedience in pursuit of a great cause and high moral purpose. It is an indelible part of our multi-racial, working-class history of struggle.

But they are equally turned off when violence is perpetrated or advocated by those who profess change.

Such tactics do nothing to expand the coalition or build the movement for immediate or long-term change.

They do damage by feeding into ruling class crackdowns, including anti-democratic laws and statutes.

It was the specter of violence that Chicago Mayor Emanuel used effectively to gain passage of restrictions on First Amendment rights.

Certainly, there should be no illusions about the role of the police as an institution, let alone the history of brutality of the Chicago Police Department.

But neither should one ignore how ruling circles and authorities have exploited a permissive attitude toward violence to infiltrate and entrap, to provoke violent acts that split groups or narrow movements, driving away the broader political allies needed for victory.

Such tactics ultimately spell doom for any movement. The upsurge of the 1960s is replete with examples including the destruction of groups and tragic death of many young activists like Black Panther Fred Hampton.

The most powerful mass movements effecting historic change have been based on nonviolent civil disobedience: the civil rights movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King; the anti-Vietnam War movement; the U.S. anti-apartheid struggle and the organization of industrial unions, to name a few.

More recently, nonviolent civil disobedience has effectively won public support for workers and immigrant rights and saving the environment. It forced the racist murder of Trayvon Martin into the national spotlight.

The aim of any tactic must be to build a majority movement of the most powerful class and social forces capable of winning. The value of a tactic can be determined in how well it achieves this.

Any tolerance for violence, provocation or confrontation is a political dead end.

Did Dharun Ravi verdict bring justice for Tyler Clementi?

Norman Markowitz — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:22:00 -0400

In September 2010, Tyler Clementi, a freshman at Rutgers University, where I have taught for 41 years, committed suicide. Soon it was discovered that Clementi, who was gay, had been harassed by his roommate, Dharun Ravi, who used a computer web camera to both film and send to other students Clementi's sexual liaison with an older man.

As a member of the Rutgers Faculty Senate I called for a policy of expelling students who commit such acts against fellow students, faculty, or staff members. The response of the administration was to do nothing and wait for the incident to blow over. Quietly, the administration did enact a few mild dormitory reforms, permitting LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) students to opt out of difficult room situations, but it did little to address either the issue of homophobia or the most elemental right to privacy. The New Jersey state legislature responded with strong anti-bullying legislation.

Ravi refused to admit that his actions were motivated by anti-gay bigotry, claiming they were merely a prank. There was much disbelief of that claim in the Rutgers community.

At the same time, Ravi apparently feared taking the plea bargain offered him (a guilty plea and no jail time) because he would be subject to deportation, which some people felt was unfair. Ravi, who is from India, is a member of a U.S. minority group which has faced hate crimes and violence in New Jersey.
Ravi was subsequently tried and convicted. Potentially, he faced up to 10 years in prison. Most observers believed that a prison sentence was necessary under New Jersey law, but some felt that sending him to prison would only enhance the tragedy.

This week the sentence was handed down: 30 days in jail, plus community service and an $11,000 fine. Gay activists and others across the political spectrum expressed anger because of the perceived trivial nature of the sentence.

Rutgers students were not on campus when the sentence was announced. However, the outgoing university administration, busy with its refusal to sign a collective bargaining agreement with part-time lecturers (the most vulnerable group of faculty members), said nothing.

How can we make sense of this tragic and complicated case? Conservatives, broadly defined, usually believe in punishment as the solution to bad actions, although they are selective about who is to be punished. Progressives, broadly defined, usually believe that punishment in itself without rehabilitation leads to further bad acts.

In this case, punishment, given the New Jersey hate crime law, was clearly merited. One can say that the mild sentence in itself undermines the purpose and effectiveness of the statute. But treatment and rehabilitation for Ravi, as an individual, and prevention of such acts should be the primary responsibility of government.

His actions led directly to the death of Clementi and he needed to atone for his crime. Ravi should not have had to fear deportation for his plea bargain. But he should, as part of any plea bargain or trial sentencing, have been made to admit and understand why he did what he did.

For example, he could have been ordered to work with both gay rights activists and public officials to help high school and college students understand why the targeting of gay men and lesbians for intimidation and humiliation violates elemental human rights. In effect, he should have been given the choice of becoming a spokesman against homophobia.

If he refused to engage in that course of conduct, then he should have been given a major prison sentence under the law. That would have constituted justice for Tyler Clementi.

As for the outgoing Rutgers University administration, which for years has engaged in self-congratulations about the diversity of its student body, it is too late now to use this tragedy to develop a required course of anti-discrimination education for all incoming students, and too late for it to confront the consequences of its policies.

High tuition costs, threats from financial loan services, poor conditions in dormitories and classrooms - these are the subtext for undergraduate students' lives at Rutgers today.

These policies, which are the national trend in public universities, follow the example of private corporations and contribute to the anti-social acts that a small number commit.

I will recommend such a required course next year in the Rutgers University Faculty Senate. Hopefully, the incoming administration will be open to such ideas and listen seriously to the undergraduate students whose education, both professional and citizenship, is the foundation and future of Rutgers University and all U.S. public universities.

Photo: Dharun Ravi arrives at court for his sentencing hearing in New Brunswick, N.J., May 21. (AP/Mel Evans)

Florida’s Orange County OKs domestic partnerships

Ben Markeson — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:11:00 -0400

ORLANDO, Fla. - Orange County, Fla., home of Walt Disney World, became the second county in Central Florida to pass a domestic partnership ordinance May 22. That day would have been the 82nd birthday of LGBTQ rights pioneer Harvey Milk.

The county commission passed the Health, Education, and Life Protections and Domestic Partnership Registry ordinance by a 6-1 vote. The measure, which goes into effect July 6, will allow unmarried individuals to gain legal recognition and some legal rights for their relationships.

"I'm really excited that two years of work came to fruition today," said Joe Saunders, state field director of Equality Florida, which along with the Orlando Anti-Discrimination Ordinance Committee (OADO) spearheaded the campaign for passage.

Provisions that allowed punitive damages and attorney's fees to be awarded to those who won lawsuits brought for ordinance violations came under fire from commissioners. They voted to strike the punitive damages, citing the potential expense to county government if its agencies were sued, and the fact that only plaintiffs' attorneys would have been awarded fees if they prevailed.

"Removing the punitive damages makes it a little bit weaker than it could have been, but it's still a powerful law that's going to help a lot of people," said Saunders.

Commissioners, in response to activists' concerns, also added "Domestic Partnership Registry" to the ordinance title in order to clarify that it, in effect, creates domestic partnerships although it uses the terms "designating person" and "support person" in place of "domestic partner."

Orlando and Orange County will now give those who are registered identical rights: health-care facility and jail visitations, and the ability to make emergency medical, funeral and burial decisions for each other and to designate each other as a pre-need guardian, and to participate in making decisions about the education of minor children in the household. Notification of partners is also required in emergencies.

Around 20 people spoke in favor of the measure with only three speakers expressing opposition. Many audience members wore red to signify their support.

Orlando civil rights attorney Mary Meeks, of OADO, said the measure would benefit more than 100,000 Orange County residents in unmarried partnerships.

Meeks told commissioners about two friends who "literally went through living hell" when one of them became seriously ill and then died.

"Although they had the recommended legal documents [to try to establish their rights as partners], they did not have the rights you are granting here today," said Meeks.

"It was heartbreaking to witness what they went through, and this ordinance will prevent future tragedies," she said.

Vicki Nantz made a documentary about Ryan Skipper, a 25-year-old Florida man who died in 2007 after being stabbed 19 times. His murderers, two unemployed methamphetamine addicts with criminal pasts, targeted him simply because he was gay.

"Our culture was complicit in Ryan's murder because it taught his killers that Ryan's life was less valuable than theirs. That he was less deserving of respect, dignity, equality and life itself," said Nantz.

She said passage of the ordinance would tell the world that the county doesn't condone discrimination or exclusion. (Article continues below video)

The Rev. Brad Rice, a minister at Orlando's Joy Metropolitan Community Church, said his faith tradition calls for compassion and fairness for all families.

Rice, who wore a red T-shirt emblazoned with "Would Jesus Discriminate?," spoke about a man from a neighboring county who was counseled by the church after the death of his longtime partner. The lack of legal rights for unmarried partners allowed the dead man's biological family to bar the surviving partner from assisting with or attending his memorial service.

"To add insult to injury, the volunteer chaplain sent by rescue personnel told this hurting and grieving widow that his partner was already in hell, and that he would be going there, too," said Rice.

"We need for all families, no matter how they're configured, to be recognized legally, so that in times of crisis pain is not added to pain," he said.

Orlando's registry has become a model for other local governments around the state, according to Equality Florida. Tampa, Gulfport, Volusia County, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Sarasota, Pinellas County and Belle Isle now have or may adopt similar measures. Volusia became the first Central Florida county to do so on May 17.

Photo via Equality Florida.

The new health care law and you – Ask a doc!

Rachel DeGolia — Thu, 24 May 2012 11:49:00 -0400

CLEVELAND - A group of physicians here has formed a speakers bureau dubbed, "The New Healthcare Law and You - Ask a Doc!" With the help of staff from the Universal Health Care Action Network (UHCAN), the doctors began fanning out across the region this spring speaking to audiences of all kinds to inform people about the changes under way and new benefits from national health reform.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), referred to by some as "Obamacare," is being implemented over several years. Although the law was enacted in March 2010 and millions of people are already experiencing some of the benefits, most people are either unaware or misinformed as to its actual provisions.

At a recent meeting of AFSCME retirees, Drs. Rochele and Nathan Beachy, husband-and-wife family practitioners, shared their view of how the ACA is a big step toward transforming "our sick care system to a health care system." They described their personal "health care horror story" about their son who developed a brain tumor in his teens and who is now able to be on their insurance policy until age 26, thanks to the ACA.

The Beachys described the positive changes the ACA is bringing about in "care, costs and quality." They said, "No one should die for lack of insurance, no one should go bankrupt for getting sick, and payments will be tied to actual improvements in health."

Attendees at the AFSCME meeting were especially interested in learning about the 24 preventive services now available with no co-pay for Medicare beneficiaries under the ACA. They were very glad to get a checklist of these services, downloaded from www.healthcare.gov, so they could make sure their insurance companies and doctors abided by these new consumer protections that are also helping keep people healthy.

Photo: Bernard Pollack // CC 2.0

Activists abuzz over Bayer’s bee killing

Blake Deppe — Wed, 23 May 2012 16:40:00 -0400

Pharmaceutical corporation Bayer's pesticides has been a huge contributor to the decline of the bee population, and on May 16, some 90+ activists gathered in San Pablo Park in West Berkeley, California, near where one of the Bayer facilities was located, to protest the company's insect-killing. Many of the demonstrators were dressed up as bees.

The goal of what was called the "Bee-in at Bayer" was to draw attention to the fact that Bayer's chemicals are directly linked to Colony Collapse Disorder - the syndrome that leaves once-full bee hives empty and devoid of life.

"All we're saying is, 'give bees a chance'!" declared one protester. "Bees for our nation, not your corporation!" cried another. And yet another demonstrator held a sign that read, "Honk if You Like Bees." Many passersby did, indeed, honk. In fact, the protest reportedly received an enthusiastic and appreciative response. Finally, some of the activists also outlined the oft-ignored fact that Bayer once played a role as a chemical weapons manufacturer for Nazi Germany.

"Ninety percent of our food crops are pollinated by bees," noted a leaflet handed out by the organizers. "Our entire ecological system depends on them."

Many beekeepers attended the demonstration, including Kathryn Gilje, co-director of the Pesticide Action Network, an international grassroots coalition fighting for environmentally sound alternatives to pesticide. She commented that while, in the hive in her backyard, "the bees are doing just great; producing lots of honey," not all are so fortunate:

Another bee host said that her community of backyard bees slowly started to dwindle in numbers, and as she researched the situation, she realized that the culprits were two pesticides (Imidacloprid and Clothianidin), which are currently some of Bayer's best-selling products.

According to the Coalition Against Bayer network, one third of honeybees in the U.S. continue to die off per year.

And although Bayer promised to suspend production of Class 1 chemicals that immediately threaten human health, it has neither said nor done anything about the ones that affect insects, plants, and animals.

The activists eventually made a "beeline" for the nearby Bayer plant, where they were instructed to "swarm!" When no one working at the plant offered to meet with, talk, or listen to the protesters, a few organizers delivered a speech, culminating in the group symbolically presenting Bayer with the sarcastic 'Poisoned Heart Award.' That award was little more than a giant, lumpy sack dripping with a thick coating of Hershey's chocolate sauce.

In conclusion, the demonstrators dressed in yellow-and-black bee attire really drove the point home by shaking, stumbling, and collapsing onto the ground. "But I don't want to die!" cried a female would-be bee as she went down. "My honey!" cried another. "I haven't finished making my honey!"

Finally, if that hadn't been clear enough, two protesters raised a banner with a simple message: "Mystery Solved! Bayer is Killing Bees."

Photo: The Coalition Against Bayer Network.

Immigrant rights activists say keep families together

John Rummel — Wed, 23 May 2012 16:32:00 -0400

DETROIT - Pressure is growing on immigration authorities to release Gustavo Vargas.

Vargas, the father of four U.S. citizen children, has led a crime free life but now sits in a Monroe County jail. In his 23 years in the U.S., his only brush with law enforcement has been his immigration status.

"The Vargas family shows how desperately we need immigration reform now. Gustavo is a small business owner, he employs people, he's not stealing anyone's job, he's creating jobs" declared Chris Michalakis, President of the Metro Detroit AFL-CIO.

Michalakis made his appeal Friday while speaking at an Alliance for Immigration Reform (AIR) rally outside the Detroit offices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Immigrant rights activists are demanding the Department of Homeland Security stick to its professed priorities of only deporting dangerous criminals and focus on people who pose a safety risk.

Vargas is an active member of Our Lady Queen of Angels Church in Southwest Detroit, where his wife Rogelia serves as a deacon. Petitions and letters demanding his release have been signed by congregants and community supporters and were given to ICE officials at the rally.

Mary Turner, who works in the office of State Representative Rashida Tlaib, D - Mich., told the crowd "we need more people like Mr. Vargas. He's paying taxes to the city of Detroit that so desperately needs money."

She worried what will happen to the family left behind as his wife and children will have to fend for themselves, possibly forced to go on welfare. "Does it make any sense?" she asked.

Turner spoke from the experience of her own family who also were once "immigrants without documentation." Many years previously, her father came north from Mexico following the footsteps of his great grandfather.

In contrast to today, her father was welcomed by immigration authorities when they arrived in Detroit and her parents and siblings all made many contributions to the new community that became their home.

"I hate the word illegal, nobody is illegal," she added.

Rogelia Vargas, Gustavo's wife, thanked AIR, the churches, and the labor unions for working to keep families united. "We are learning to get together to tell our stories, to not fear. We will continue to struggle until we win," she said.

Michalakis called on Congress and President Obama's administration to do more to keep families like the Vargas's together saying, "We cannot deport our way to prosperity."

Photo: Senator Coleman Young Jr., father of Leo Reilly of St. Anne's Church, AIR organizer Roxanne Rodriguez, President of the Detroit AFL-CIO Christos Michalakis, and Rogelia Vargas (with son) spouse to Gustavo. Alliance for Immigration Reform

In the “other Chicago,” mental health patients out of options

Blake Deppe — Wed, 23 May 2012 14:11:00 -0400

CHICAGO - This past weekend, millions gathered in the Windy City for the NATO summit. But over in the "other Chicago" - the inner city, Latino and African American-majority neighborhoods, people are suffering. People's World toured the Back of the Yards community, where a mental health clinic was recently shut down, and got a very different picture of reality than the one tourists saw downtown.

N'dana Carter, organizer with South Side Together Organized for Power, underscored the severity of the issue, in which Mayor Rahm Emanuel decided to move forward with the termination of six out of 12 of the city's mental health clinics.

"We've had 18 people from [the Back of the Yards facility] hospitalized since it closed," Carter explained. "They've had anxiety; fear; attempted suicide. The [city's] decision has been to ignore the needs of the people."

To add insult to injury, the shutdown of a half-dozen clinics came while the city raised more than $36 million for the NATO conference. $14 million of that paid for wine and caviar parties for diplomats and heads of state. "It would take ony 2.3 million of that to fund the clinics for one year," said Margaret Sullivan, who overcame suicidal depression under the care of another clinic in Chicago's Beverly/Morgan Park area. "They say there's no money, but look how they found $36.5 million for this summit so quick."

Gesturing at the needy Back of the Yards community, Carter remarked, "This clinic was the heartbeat of this community. And many of the people there were undocumented. The city has chosen to sweep all this under the rug."

So, she said, now patients are forced to see private therapists, while those who worked at the clinics are now out of jobs. "They fired all the Black male therapists, and half of the Hispanic male therapists. Many of them had no other jobs to take, and went on to work at kennels, euthanizing animals." In the meantime, "A lot of private providers are closing. It's important that public health services stay public."

Indeed, Debbie Delgado, a woman whose son was shot to death in street violence in Nov. 2006, had been receiving therapy sessions to deal with her resultant depression. Her two sons had been shot, she said, and her older one (21), died in the arms of his younger brother (19), who survived the attack.

Now, she said, her youngest son is slipping away too, and the news that the clinic was closing had come as a blow to him. "He refuses to take medication now," she stressed. "He doesn't want to be in society. He wants to be with his brother. With the closing of these clinics, people are losing hope.

"When I found out how much money goes to wars and just for this summit, I got so upset. We have nowhere else to go."

Another patient, Marti Luckett, said, "14 years ago, I had a mental breakdown. I was alone, and I felt that I had nowhere to turn." But this clinic, she said, was a place in which she got better. She declared that the city ought to "be practical: It only makes sense to have these facilities available to the people who need them."

One patient, who had been suicidal, actually took a turn for the better in her health after she got involved in the fight to maintain mental health care services. "When I realized that with the cuts the city was trying to kill me," she said, "I decided to stay alive just for spite."

The tour through the neighborhood was headed up by the Grassroots Collaborative coalition, whose member Amisha Patel said, "Long after NATO is done, there will still be struggle. That's the reality of the situation. Community residents have a voice, too, and it should be listened to.

"But there's a disconnect between the priorities of local folks and those at the top."

"There are a lot of patients right now," said Delgado, "who are slowly dying. We only ask for $2.3 million to keep six clinics open, but the city would rather spend it on wining and dining, and planting flower boxes downtown." Meanwhile, she concluded, "Our community is dying."

Photo: Debbie Delgado talks with reporters about the wrongs being done to former patients of the shut down clinics, who need help. Blake Deppe/PW

Massachusetts: job creation up, unemployment down

Dan Margolis — Wed, 23 May 2012 12:32:00 -0400

Massachusetts must be doing something right.

Perhaps the nation's most Democratic and liberal state, Massachusetts has experienced months of declining unemployment rates. The most recent data released by the state's Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development shows that the Massachusetts unemployment rate declined again in April.

The seasonally adjusted rate was 6.3 percent. Just over a year ago, the figure was 7.5 percent, and the national figure stands at 8.1 percent.

Unemployment in Massachusetts has not been so low since before October 2008, when it was at 6.1 percent.

The administration of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, a Democrat, has focused on job creation, especially in the high tech and life sciences in sector.

"Massachusetts is leading the world in the life sciences thanks to our growth strategy of investing in education, innovation and infrastructure," Patrick said May 16 at a groundbreaking ceremony for a new facility. "I am proud of this investment and I look forward to seeing the Massachusetts Accelerator for Biomanufacturing create jobs and further strengthen our leadership in the life sciences."

The MAB is described as the "only facility in the United States where startups will be able to test their biomanufacturing methods and bioproducts at every stage of development and access full-service support from business and marketing to pure science support - all under one roof. The MAB is designed to serve researchers and entrepreneurs as they develop products and methods that will reshape the fields of biotherapeutics, biomedicine and green chemistry."

The MAB, a new facility at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, is projected to create 120 construction jobs immediately and ten permanent jobs once it is built. Beyond that, the administrations hopes it will "strengthen Massachusetts' standing as a world leader in the life sciences industry." In so doing, it is hoped, the MAB will attract more high-tech jobs to the area.

The state labor office released May 22 employment data for the city, town, and metropolitan levels. This information portrayed an increase in employment in most areas. Unemployment was down in each of the state's statistical employment areas except for one, Amherst.

The figures also showed that the decline in unemployment was not simply due only to people having given up searching for jobs and dropping out of the labor force The state's count of jobs is measured in twelve different areas, and 11 of them saw seasonal increases in jobs. Eight of these twelve regions saw an increase in jobs over the year ending in April.

More than 10,000 jobs were created in the Massachusetts section of the Boston metropolitan area alone. Other areas also saw big increases, including Worcester, Mass., where nearly 4,000 jobs were created.

Patrick supporters argue that the state's success in job creation has been strengthened by an administration that works in partnership with the federal government, especially the Obama administration. For example, money from the Obama stimulus program was used to build a highway off-ramp leading directly to the park.

Governor Patrick's popularity extends beyond Massachusetts. Touring the country in support of his friend President Barack Obama's reelection campaign, Patrick has drawn huge crowds, especially in the South.

Photo: Gov. Deval Patrick, right of red jacket, pitches in at MAB groundbreaking. Office of Governor Patrick // CC 2.0

Latina moms in Chicago: “We’re done crying!”

John Wojcik — Wed, 23 May 2012 12:18:00 -0400

CHICAGO - Except for one grandmother, the rest of the 20 or so women who patrol the streets around Davis Elementary School here every weekday are in their 20s and 30s.

Unlike the police, they earn no salary, carry no weapons and wear no bulletproof vests. But when members of the Latin Kings, the Disciples or Two-Six, the powerful street gangs whose territories converge where the Davis school is located, run into these women, the gang members back off.

They are a voluntary army of mothers who are determined that in a neighborhood where youth fall victim to gang violence almost every day, their children are going to get to and from school safely.

"My child will not be shot, and he is not going to die," said one of the volunteer moms who has a second grader at Davis.

"With most of the young people out of work, with the lack of jobs, the foreclosures - the gang violence around here is really going up," said Mariela Estrada who helped pull together not just the women protecting the area around Davis but a volunteer patrol throughout Brighton Park that now totals 150 women.

Asked why the patrollers were all women Estrada said, "the fathers have to work and they go out for some type of work even if they are officially out of a job.

"A ten-year-old was shot a few days ago, shot twice, and a month and a half ago it was a 15 year old shot right here outside Davis," said Estrada. "And for the last two days now, not a single police patrol has gone by. Our tax dollars are paying to protect NATO. The police have forgotten about us."

Estrada said the decision to join the moms' patrol was not easy for the young mothers or the one grandmother at Davis who are part of it. "It often means that only the father can work, provided he has a job, and economically times are so tough that you need everyone who can to be pulling in an income," she said.

Estrada led the way down the block to where the wall on a corner deli was sprayed with the graffiti signature of the gang Two-Six. The wall was a memorial marking the place and the date that a member of Two-Six had fallen dead in the area's ongoing street battles.

Around the corner she pointed to a "tagged," tree, into which a white cloth square had been hammered and onto the trunk of which some gang symbols had been spray-pained. "That 's a shrine to a gang member who died right there on the spot," she said.

"Young people dying all around us," she said, shaking her head, "because there are no jobs, because of poverty, injustice, foreclosures, lack of immigrant rights - but I'm done crying about it. Now I fight and that's why we have the patrol."

As she finished her sentence a member of the Two-Six gang pulled up on his bike, seemingly out of nowhere, demanding to know what was going on. She offered him the chance to be interviewed about one of the shrines painted by his group's members but he refused. "Tell them they better not take any photos and they better get out of my neighborhood," he told Estrada as he pulled away on his bike.

Two-Six is one of the largest street gangs in Chicago. Started some 30 years ago in the Little Village neighborhood, the gang has a long rivalry with another group, the Latin Kings.

Gangs operate in the shadows of their neighborhoods, doing a lucrative drug business, among other things, with the older people in charge of the gangs often taking advantage of the younger members through intimidation and fear.

The violence perpetrated against people in the neighborhoods where they operate is often totally senseless. Even youngsters killed accidentally in crossfire meant for another gang can become the cause of new spiraling violence as gangs play a game of one-upmanship to "make good" for that accidental killing in their territory.

"Young people without jobs often join because of the false expectation that they'll get rich and have power and for a feeling of wanting to belong," said Estrada.

"We took on this job even though it's the city's job," said Nancy Parazza, another of the guards patrolling closer to the school. "But we have a need at least for a little financing. We have the [uniform] vests that we wear only for 100 of us. The vests, at least are brightly colored so people in cars can see us. It would be nice if we could afford vests for all of us. When gang members see those vests they know to stay away, they know we mean to protect our kids."

"Where will the city get the money?'" she was asked.

"They are spending millions to protect NATO and with even a tiny bit of that we could do a heck of a lot to help our children keep safe and, if they were really serious, they'd put money in here to create some jobs for our older kids," Parazza answered.

"But for now, the kids feel safe when they see us," she said. "They come to us. And the gangs - well they see us and they know to stay away from our kids."

Asked how she feels about having to live in such a tough neighborhood, Parazza said, "I will never move. Family friends and neighbors here are gentle, warm and loving people. That's how my community is. We are a people who know how to pull together, how to support one another and how to love one another," she said as she continued on her late morning rounds as a protector of kids on the streets of Chicago.

Photo: Volunteer mom guuards pose for a picture in front of Davis elementary school. Blake Deppe/PW

VIDEO Depicted as gorilla, African American doctor sues UCLA for racism

ShamefulHonestTruth — Wed, 23 May 2012 12:11:00 -0400

A respected African American faculty surgeon filed a racial discrimination suit against the UCLA Medical Center and UC Regents. Dr. Christian Head has been intentionally degraded based on his race and UCLA officials have ignored blatant acts of racial discrimination, including an edited photo depicting Dr. Head as a gorilla being sodomized by his supervisor. That alone is offensive. But the fact that the photo was publicly presented for laughs during an annual medical school sponsored event attended by more than 200 physicians, faculty, residents and guests is both shocking and indefensible.

Hear what Dr. Head has endured and what UCLA officials continue ignore.

(You can sign the petition to UCLA Chancellor Gene Block and tell him to end discrimination at UCLA and UCLA Medical Center.)

Chicago activists protest Heartland Institute conference

Blake Deppe — Wed, 23 May 2012 10:19:00 -0400

CHICAGO - Over a dozen environmental activists gathered across the street from the Hilton hotel on May 22 to protest the Heartland Institute, which put up ads comparing environmentalists to the Unabomber, and in today's conference, continued their corporate-backed campaign of climate change denial. Activists fought back, telling the pseudo-science outfit to "stop the lies."

Some of the group's corporate backers include AT&T, Microsoft, Pfizer, and Comcast. But, more worryingly, oil companies like Exxon Mobil are really the ones pulling the strings here. Exxon Mobil has reportedly given $531,000 to Heartland, and enjoys a heavy influence on the group's portrayal of environmentalists as wrong and dangerous individuals, as well as their profit-based choice to ignore the global threat of climate change.

But the national outcry against Heartland has led 11 companies to sever their ties with the group - including State Farm and General Motors.

"I studied climate change science at MIT," said Brad Johnson, campaign manager of Forecast the Facts. "And I learned the magnitude of the problem we're facing. But this has been known by real scientists for decades." However, "Heartland is defending corporate denial of these harsh realities, and also taking money from the tobacco industry to do it. Meanwhile, they deny the threat of cigarette smoke" as well.

"We asked companies like General Motors to back out and stop funding Heartland, and we were amazed by the response we got. [Some] major companies are realizing that climate science is incompatible with [outfits] like Heartland."

As Johnson spoke, the police presence and attendance of some right-wing-leaning reporters (with condescending smiles) at the demonstration was noticeable. As such, Johnson concluded, "I'd like to thank all of the corporate-funded people here right now [who are] putting a face to climate change denial."

Caroline Wooten, with the Chicago Youth Climate Coalition (a citywide youth network "devoted to moving beyond fossil fuels") spoke up: "We're doing a lot over on the southeast side [of the city], fighting the coal industry. And we're working to get the state of Illinois to stop funding it. Our group, we talk about public health, clean air, and clean water. And don't get me wrong - those are all very important things! But I'm also pissed that I can't talk about climate change [as much].

"Heartland uses corporate interests to obscure the truth. But they can't obscure our minds and our hearts.

"Climate change is the epitome of corporate greed. Big banks are trying to take peoples' homes," she remarked, "and climate change is going to take our real home!"

"We're supposed to draw conclusions from the hypotheses we make," commented an activist named Zack. But Heartland, he said, "asks itself, 'how can we keep making people believe what we want them to believe?' But events like this one show them that we're not going to take the bullsh*t."

As well-dressed business executives paused in passing for the space of a sarcastic laugh, and right-wing reporters and their cameramen infringed on the activists' personal space, a speaker remarked, "We'd like to welcome all the representitives of the corporate one percent. I don't know if these guys are hired actors or what, but I'd like to thank them for their mockery and utter lack of respect."

The intrusion didn't stop the cheers or the spirit of the small crowd, however. A member of Greenpeace declared, "Ninety-seven percent of scientists know what's really going on. In the end, we're going to win and the public is going to understand the truth."

Photo: Three environmental activists illustrate Microsoft's backing of Heartland, a group that promotes skepticism and denial of climate change. Blake Deppe/PW

Drink coffee, live longer?

Thomas Riggins — Tue, 22 May 2012 15:27:00 -0400

Some positive science to report: drinking coffee keeps the Grim Reaper away-at lease for a while longer according to a new report in Science Daily ("Coffee Drinkers Have Lower Risk of Death, Study Suggests" 5/19/2012).

That headline may be a little misleading, as everyone's risk of death is 100%. What SD's report actually purports to show is that people who drink at least three cups of coffee a day live longer on average than people who don't. So, that first cup in the morning, the 10 O'clock coffee break and the afternoon pick me up caffeine break are good for you.

The study was done by scientists at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health and also AARP. Although the NCI didn't find any link between coffee drinking and cancer, their figures indicate that coffee imbibers are more unlikely to die from lung diseases, heart diseases, strokes, infections, diabetes - and even accidents and other injuries than those eschewing the bean's beverage.

The full study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine on May 17 of this year. 400,000 Americans of both sexes (ages 50-71) were followed from 1995-96 to the end of 2008 (or until they died during that time frame). SD reported that, "Relative to men and women who did not drink coffee, those who consumed three or more cups of coffee per day had approximately a 10 percent lower risk of death."

Dr. Neal Freedman (PhD) of the NCI had this to say about the results that were found: "Coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages in America, but the association between coffee consumption and risk of death has been unclear. We found coffee consumption to be associated with lower risk of death overall, and of death from a number of different causes. Although we cannot infer a causal relationship between coffee drinking and lower risk of death, we believe these results do provide some reassurance that coffee drinking does not adversely affect health."

There are some technical reasons that explain why a causal relationship is not being claimed. Namely, the study was conducted in a limited time period (13 years) so it says nothing about longer periods of time, and also, Dr. Freedman pointed out, "The mechanism by which coffee protects against risk of death - if indeed the finding reflects a causal relationship - is not clear, because coffee contains more than 1,000 compounds that might potentially affect health. The most studied compound is caffeine, although our findings were similar in those who reported the majority of their coffee intake to be caffeinated or decaffeinated."

This would seem to indicate that the protective power of coffee is not linked to caffeine - but nobody knows which of those over 1000 other compounds, or combination thereof, may be doing the trick. At any rate, it seems caffeine won't hurt you and something in coffee is giving its devotees a 10 per cent edge over the non-coffee crowd in keeping the Grim Reaper at bay.

Photo: Espresso flows into a cup at a coffee house. Orlin Wagner/AP

Thousands wrongly convicted

Dan Margolis — Tue, 22 May 2012 15:03:00 -0400

In 1982, two men broke into a Monroe County, Fla., woman's apartment. One of the men, whom she described as a Latino with no shirt and no hair, raped her.

Moments later, cops stopped a group of Cuban-American men at a nearby gas station. One of the men, Orlando Boquete, had no hair and no shirt. He did however have a mustache. The rape victim, who was brought to the scene, testified that Boquete was in fact the man who raped her, though Boquete had been put into a police car and she was 20 feet away. It was only after seeing Boquete that she told police her assailant also had a mustache.

Boquete, who maintained that he had been home with his family immediately prior to visiting the convenience store, was charged with burglary and attempted sexual battery. In court, he was again identified as the assailant.

The only other piece of evidence was the victims clothing, which had been collected by the police. There was semen on it, and this was subjected to testing. An analyst testified that the semen could have come from Boquete - along with about 20 percent of the population.

Boquete was convicted and thrown into prison. He escaped twice, and was caught. In 2003, 20 years after his conviction, he filed a motion, which was approved in 2004, for new DNA testing. The testing concluded that much of the semen could not possibly have been his. He was acquitted and freed in 2006.

Stories like Boquete's, which was provided by the Innocence Project, are far too common. Now, thanks to a joint project of the law schools at Northwestern University and the University of Michigan, it is possible to gauge with better accuracy just how common these wrongful convictions are.

The answer is chilling.

The newly unveiled project, the National Registry of Exonerations, lists 891 people exonerated since 1989, the year of the first-ever DNA exoneration. DNA evidence, according to the Innocence Project, accounts for 291 of these cases. The other reversals include discoveries of mistaken identification, perjury, false accusations, inadequate legal defense and more.

In doing this research, Professor Samuel Gross told MSNBC, researchers found but did not add to the database more than 1,100 mass exonerations based on police misconduct scandals. This means that in less than 25 years alone, more than 2,000 people were falsely convicted - that researchers know of. Researchers argued that there were probably far more cases of people in prison for crimes they did not commit.

"These cases were intentionally omitted so as not to skew the final statistics," according to the Innocence Project's blog. "For example, research produced through the registry shows that 51 percent of the wrongful convictions involved perjury of false accusation, that 43 percent involved eyewitness misidentification, and that 42 percent involved official misconduct."

Northwestern University's Center on Wrongful Convictions lists a number of reasons innocent people are convicted and sent to prison. "Snitches," people with monetary or other incentives to lie have caused nearly 51 people to be wrongfully convicted sentenced to the death penalty. This number only includes those who were exonerated before execution.

Snitches account for 45.9 percent of all U.S. capital conviction exonerations. Erroneous witness testimony accounts for 25.2 percent, false confession 14.4 percent, and false or misleading scientific evidence 9.9 percent.

Police misconduct, Northwestern's website notes, is behind many of these wrongful convictions.

Photo: Auntie P. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Iraq and Afghanistan veterans return medals at NATO protest

Teresa Albano — Tue, 22 May 2012 11:40:00 -0400

CHICAGO - U.S. veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars threw their medals towards the site of the NATO Summit May 20 in what was called the most dramatic antiwar action by ex-GIs since Vietnam. One-by-one, more than 40 service members from all branches of the military took to the stage to tell their stories while thousands of anti-NATO protesters listened and cheered.

"I want to tell the folks behind us, in these enclosed walls where they build more policies based on lies and fear, that we no longer stand for them and their unjust wars. Bring our troops home," said U.S. Marine Iris Feliciano who served in Afghanistan in 2002. Feliciano turned and pitched her medals towards McCormick Place here where the NATO Summit was held May 20-21. (Story continues after slideshow.)

Alongside the veterans on stage were three representatives from Canada-based Afghans For Peace whose speakers condemned the U.S.-NATO war and loss of human life and at the same time expressed solidarity with the U.S. veterans.

Suraia Sahar said she had a message for the NATO representatives meeting in Chicago, "For what you have done to my home country, I'm enraged. For what you have done to my people, I'm disgusted. For what you have done to these veterans, I am heartbroken."

Unlike the Iraq war, which garnered significant opposition before and after the 2003 invasion, opposition to the war in Afghanistan, now in its 11^th year, has been slower to build among Americans. With war fatigue, an economic crisis and draconian budget cuts to vital public programs, recent polls show almost 70 percent of Americans saying the U.S. should not be at war in Afghanistan.

Dressed in fatigues, Iraq Veterans Against the War with a newly formed section, Afghanistan Veterans Against the War, led the anti-NATO protest march, which stretched for several blocks while almost as many police - many in riot gear - lined the streets or waited in buses that flashed "My Kind of Town Chicago Is" signs. Behind the veterans were CANg8 (Coalition against NATO-G8) marshals linked arm-in-arm giving a pre-agreed upon space between the contingents of the two march organizers. The Rev. Jesse Jackson accompanied the veterans.

The veterans addressed numerous issues during their medal ceremony and testimonies. Calls to free Bradley Manning, dedications to Iraqi, Afghan and U.S. children, condemnations of lies, corporate greed and imperialism and pleas for action on veteran suicide rate, widespread post-traumatic stress disorder and the "right to heal" framed the combat vets personal narratives.

Demands to cut military spending and invest in education, jobs and health care were also made. (Watch video here.)

At the same time, respect for all active duty soldiers, veterans and even police was shown. Some veterans spoke about the positive aspects of service.

"In the military is where I learned what integrity meant, and I believe I served with integrity. At this point in my life, if I want to continue to live with integrity, I must get rid of these [medals]," said Air Force veteran Erica Sloan.

In a particularly moving moment, IVAW organizer and Illinois Guardsmen Aaron Hughes dedicated his three medals to "Anthony Wagner, who died last year" and to "one-third of the women in the military who are sexually assaulted by their peers; we talk about standing up for our sisters in Afghanistan and we can't even take care of our sisters here," he said.

With the final medal, Hughes' voice began to quiver with emotion. "This medal right here is because I'm sorry. I'm sorry to all of you. I'm .... sorry," he said.

The veterans came from around the country including Arkansas, Ohio, Wisconsin and New York. When Iraq vet and Occupy Oakland activist Scott Olsen took the stage wearing a helmet the crowd cheered its recognition. Olsen was almost killed last year by Oakland police when they fired a tear gas canister into the crowd and it struck Olsen in the head.

"My name is Scott Olsen," he said. "These medals once upon a time made me feel good about what I was doing. They made me feel I was doing the right thing. Then I came back to reality, and I don't want these anymore." Olsen threw down his Global War on Terror, Operation Iraqi Freedom, National Defense and Good Conduct medals.

At the beginning of the ceremony the veterans presented the American flag to Mary Kirkland, a mother of a soldier who committed suicide after numerous attempts, which were known by the military.

Kirkland said after two attempts, the military deemed her son Derrick to be at "low to moderate risk" for suicide, prescribing medication and drug/alcohol counseling. He made another unsuccessful attempt, she said, and then on his fourth attempt, he hung himself.

On the day Kirkland buried her son in Marion, Ind., she stopped at a gas station and picked up a newspaper and found a surprising statement from the Pentagon.

"The Department of Defense said that my son was killed in action," she said. They also said the "family declined to comment," she said.

"They start out with lies and they continue the lies," she said, adding she felt honored to be a part of the protest.

This is the first time since the Vietnam War - when antiwar veterans threw their medals at the U.S. Capitol in Washington - that such a large number of veterans protested war in such a dramatic way.

Despite the veterans' call for a peaceful exit from the rally site, a handful of protesters confronted the police, resulting in a show of force and violence by the police with demonstrators getting hurt and numerous arrests made.

Photo: Veterans prepare to throw their medals at the NATO Summit, in Chicago, May 20, 2012. Teresa Albano/PW

Three cheers for Mariela Castro’s visit to the U.S.

Mike Lado — Mon, 21 May 2012 15:06:00 -0400

If there's one person whom I've always wanted to meet, one straight ally who has been a staunch advocate and supporter of LGBT causes, it's Mariela Castro, daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro and niece to Fidel Castro.

As director of Cuba's National Center for Sex Education she has worked to secure the rights of Cuban lesbians, gays and bisexuals. She has been North America's biggest transgender advocate, successfully advocating for and securing funding for the Cuban health care system to provide free gender counseling and transitioning for those who identify as transgender. In the United States there are still places where it is illegal for transgender individuals to have sex reassignment surgery.

And this year she has introduced a same-sex marriage bill into Cuba's National Assembly, to be voted on later this year. But why I am mentioning all this? It's because Mariela Castro is coming to the United States.

The State Department has granted her a visa so she may come and speak at a conference at the Latin American Studies Association in San Francisco May 23-26 where she will chair a panel on sexual diversity. However there are those who would wish to prevent such a staunch ally of the LGBT community and a renowned human rights activist from coming to this country.

Right-wing politicians such as Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., have been rallying for the visa to be revoked.

I am very familiar with Rep. Ros-Lehtinen's respected position in the Florida LGBT community. Why then would she deny human rights advocate Mariela Castro the honor of speaking at a diversity conference? Not only does this visit strengthen American-Cuban relations by promoting a path towards normalization and removal of the unjust U.S. embargo against Cuba, but it promotes an exchange of cultural and human right ideals.

Mariela Castro has done so much for Cuban sexual minorities who were no more than 10 years ago subjected to harassment and abuse. Gays and lesbians can march in government-sanctioned pride parades, counseling and health services are available to LGBT people at no cost, and this year the bill on same-sex marriage was introduced, with included anti-discrimination provisions.

The arguments of people like Rep. Ros-Lehtinen make no sense. The congresswoman claims Mariela Castro and other pro-government Cubans are anti-American. Really? Mariela Castro recently offered praise to President Obama for speaking up in support of marriage equality.

And you know what? If we removed the embargo and stopped our rampant imperialism, I think the Cubans would be more than willing to welcome us to to the inter-American community from which we have been isolated. We can learn a lot from people like Mariela Castro. I guarantee it.

In some respects Cuba and much of Latin America have become more developed than the United States in LGBT rights.

President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela passed LGBT discrimination protections in a new labor code. Additionally there is recognition of relationships through a civil union known as "association by cohabitation." Colombia has legalized same-sex common law marriage and passed anti-discrimination laws, and that was under the conservative government!

Argentina and Brazil have banned discrimination. In Argentina same-sex marriage is legal. And in Brazil civil unions provide many of the benefits of marriage. In Chile a recent hate crime against a gay man which resulted in death spurred the passage of anti-discrimination laws and a proposal for civil unions. Uruguay has legalized civil unions and same-sex adoption.
In Ecuador leftist president Rafael Correa provided for civil unions in the new constitution. Additionally he has banned the harmful "ex-gay" movement from the country, and shut down dozens of those clinics. In Mexico same-sex marriages performed in Mexico City must be recognized nationwide. In Costa Rica the government is considering civil unions as well.

We should be welcoming people like Mariela Castro with open arms! People like her bring knowledge and ideals to this country that would benefit us immensely. Instead we resort to imperialist and fear-mongering. We assume everything about Cuba is bad ,and it leads to racism and homophobia, in the service of imperialism.
It's time to dialogue. It's time to listen to what the Castros have to say. It's time to end the embargo. Take a lesson from gays and lesbians in Cuba. I don't know about you, but I stand by Mariela Castro and her right to free speech and free association, to speak and share her knowledge and values in this country where we supposedly value freedom and diversity.

Photo: Mariela Castro talks with reporters during a celebration marking the 10th anniversary of the National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX) in Havana, Cuba, Aug. 12, 2011. Franklin Reyes/AP

Florida’s progressive forces unite against insurance company

Ben Markeson — Mon, 21 May 2012 14:49:00 -0400

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL - Progressive forces from around Florida converged here May 17 to protest Coventry Health Care's use of its mega-profits to oppose the Affordable Care Act.

They held signs saying "Insurance Companies--Stop Using Our Premiums to Buy Politicians," while chants of "Coventry--Rich and Rude / We Don't Like Your Attitude / Allen Wise--Rich and Rude / We Don't Like Your Attitude" echoed on the sidewalk across from the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, site of Coventry's annual shareholder meeting.

"We're here today to represent the 99 percent against the one percent," Tony Fransetta, president of the Florida Alliance of Retired Americans told the crowd.

"It's great to be a part of the one percent--they're inside," he said. "They insulate themselves from the 99 percent, but... no insurance company can go to the polls."

"We have to get the rest of the 99 percent out here, get them active, get them voting, and representing their own interests," said Fransetta.

Wise, CEO of Coventry--the nation's sixth-largest insurer, was paid nearly $13 million in 2011. He is, according to Forbes magazine, the 53rd highest-paid CEO in the country and fifth-highest in the health-care industry. Top executives at Coventry, including Wise, four executive vice presidents and a senior vice president, brought home a combined $29 million in 2011, including salary, stock options, and bonuses.

Speakers at the rally denounced Coventry for using its profits for lobbyists and for campaign contributions in order to block implementation of the ACA.

"Instead of using their money on health care, they're using it to influence elections and rig pubic policy in their favor," said Organize Now! member Sue Casterline. "We need them to focus on what patients and small businesses are giving them this money for: to provide the health care they need to survive."

"From the day the law was passed, insurance companies, their corporate lobbyists, hacks in Congress, and right-wing Republicans have been trying to repeal it, starting with the parts that protect consumers," said Ylet Cyrus, an SEIU member and retired health-care worker.

"Insurance companies don't want to follow rules that require them to treat consumers fairly," said Cyrus. "They want to go back to the days when they made all the rules, and we had no choice but to accept them even if our health and wallets suffered."

"I'm here to tell Coventry and its shareholders those days are over," she said.

Cyrus was one of two retired workers blocked from attending and speaking at the shareholder meeting despite having proper identification and paperwork indicating that they held proxies for Coventry shares owned by the Service Employees International Union and the Communications Workers of America.

"They had every credential to come in and were denied access because they are regular working people," said Sheena Rolle, program director of Organize Now! Other groups participating in the action included Awake Broward, Florida New Majority, and Health Care for America Now, which works to defend and implement the ACA.

Coventry and other insurers detest provisions in the ACA that stop them from discriminating against those with pre-existing conditions, canceling policies because of unintentional errors on the application and setting limits on how much they'll spend on treatment, which is important for those with very expensive illnesses like cancer.

Coventry was one of three insurers that supported a 2011 request by Florida's Office of Insurance Regulation to soften an ACA rule that mandates insurers spend at least 80 percent of each premium dollar on health care and quality improvement rather than on executive salaries, advertising and other overhead.

Florida regulators claimed that entry barriers in the insurance market and a lessening of consumer choice warranted reducing the minimum "medical loss ratio"--the amount of premium dollars not spent on health care--from 80-68 percent (rising to 72 percent in 2012, and 76 in 2013).

The federal Department of Health and Human Services rejected the proposal, saying that most Florida insurers already meet the standard, are "sufficiently profitable" or are adequately adjusting their business models to comply with the law.

Under the ACA, insurers who fail to meet the minimum "medical loss ratio" must provide rebates to their policyholders. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, insurers will pay an estimated $1.3 billion in rebates this year, with $50 million of that total coming from Coventry. An analysis of insurer filings by the South Florida Sun Sentinel found that Coventry will need to return $5.3 million to policyholders in the Sunshine State.

Perhaps not coincidentally, Coventry contributed nearly $200,000 to non-federal candidates and political committees in Florida during the 2010 election cycle, with almost 55 percent of these funds going to Republicans, according to the Alliance for a Just Society and Organize Now!

In 2011, Coventry spent between $100,000 and $160,000 lobbying members of Florida's Republican-dominated legislature and between $60,000 and $120,000 lobbying the executive branch of Florida's government, which is controlled by ultra-right millionaire Gov. Rick Scott.

Nationally, Coventry, including its political action committees, employees, board members and subsidiaries, contributed more than $850,000 to federal candidates from 1998 to the first quarter of 2012. During that same period, the hugely profitable corporation--with 2011 profits of $543 million, up from $242 million in 2009--and its subsidiaries spent almost $7 million on federal lobbying in an effort to influence public policy. Between 2009 and 2011, Coventry, which has 14,000 employees and is based in Bethesda, Md., saw its profit margin nearly double from 3.6 percent to 7.1 percent.

The south Florida protest was part of the Shareholders Spring, called by Moveon.org, the AFL-CIO, the Working Families Party and other groups to hold corporations accountable for actions that hurt the 99 percent. So far activists have attempted to make their presence felt at the shareholder meetings of Bank of America, WellPoint, Cigna, General Electric, Wells Fargo, Carnival Cruise Lines, Verizon and others.

Members of Occupy Tampa, SEIU, One Miami, Organize Now! and other groups also protested at the JP Morgan Chase shareholder meeting in Tampa on May 15.

Among their demands were that Chase reduce the principle on mortgages it holds when the amount owed is greater than the fair-market value of the properties.

A proxy from SEIU spoke at the meeting asking Chase to take action on wage theft complaints by immigrant janitors who work for the company that cleans Chase branches in the Miami area. SEIU 32BJ, which represents 120,000 property service workers from Connecticut to Florida, is trying to organize the Miami janitors.

Photo: John Bachtell/PW

Tom Morello, Nurses Union gather in Chicago

Blake Deppe — Mon, 21 May 2012 13:42:00 -0400

CHICAGO - "Corporate malfeasants have caused hardship for millions of working families while they line their pockets. NATO is not welcome here. This town is our town." Former Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello said these words as he wrapped up a day of action on May 18 with the National Nurses United. They gathered at Daley Plaza on a sun-filled afternoon to note the problems caused by the one percent, and to highlight the fight against austerity measures hurting families worldwide.

The nurses assembled, wearing green 'Robin Hood' caps to show their support of the Robin Hood tax, a proposed taxing of Wall Street transactions, which would generate hundreds of billions of dollars and give the U.S. economy a major boost. NNU speakers also spoke out against the NATO summit, which took place here in the Windy City this weekend, and a comedic skit was also performed, in which 'Robin Hood and the nurses' scoured the trees for the G8 world leaders, who 'decided to run off into the woods of Maryland' due to the public outcry they faced by Chicagoans.

Morello finished off the event with a 30-minute mini-show, during which he performed songs including "This Land is Your Land."

"For 20 years," said Morello, "I've been part of the [Los Angeles] musicians' union Local 147. But Chicago's my favorite city in the world. It's an honor to be back in my hometown with the Nurses Union."

He added, "The mayor's office tried to shut this thing down." Here he referred to the issue that occurred when he had originally announced his participation in the event: The city had threatened to move the rally to a less visible location, in which less people would have been able to gather, to boot. But in response, the collective outcry of Morello, the Nurses, and much of the public, was too powerful, and the gathering was allowed to continue as originally planned in Daley Plaza.

"They couldn't shut us down, because we stood up," said Morello. In the end, he remarked, "It was a few politicians, their skeevy lawyers, and some trembling NATO generals who caved in. If NATO, the defender of the free world, is afraid of a musician with an acoustic guitar and some nurses, we're in a lot of trouble. We present no threat to the city of Chicago. The only people who have anything to fear are the moneyed interests who have tried to shut us up."

During an interview with Rolling Stone, Morello elaborated on his friendship with the NNU: "My support for the working class is well documented, but, in particular, the grotesque economic inequality that plagues our country and our planet needs to be addressed head-on. And the Nurses Union are one of the louder voices doing it.

"Wall Street has torpedoed the global economy and caused distress for countless millions of families - while at the same time, their executives are giving themselves millions of dollars in bonuses. It's absolutely wrong."

The event and its guitar-shredding conclusion saw nurses and workers of all ages and ethnicities, and from all walks of life, joining together and cheering Morello's encouraging words.

When the city tried to prevent this event from happening, Morello proudly declared, the people "looked [city officials] in the eye and said, 'F*ck you, I won't do what ya tell me!'"

Photo: John Bachtell/PW

Foreclosed homeowner stands his ground on his own porch

John Wojcik — Mon, 21 May 2012 13:10:00 -0400

CHICAGO - A few miles south and west of all the hoopla around the NATO summit here Lamont Newsome stands his ground at a battle post he and his loyal canine partner have maintained every day for a year and three months now - his front porch.

Newsome owned his house on Loomis near 53rd for six years when the bank foreclosed on his mortgage. He was willing to pay rent for the right to stay in his home but the bank is not interested. Bank of America says it will get around to getting him out but in the meantime, with the help of his neighbors he and his dog are holding out on the first floor of the wood-framed house, now in bad need of repair. He is able to pay the electric bill but the city has threatened to shut off the water.

"We need him to stay there and guard his own house," said Charles Brown, a retired Chicago cop who lives two doors down from Newsome on a street lined with vacant lots and abandoned homes. "If Lamont gets kicked out there will be eleven abandoned houses between here and the next corner," said Brown, who walked this reporter across the street to one of those abandoned buildings, surrounded by piles of rubble that included broken tables and sofas.

Brown, who purchased his home in Englewood 40 years ago, explained that all of the homes became vacant since 2008, the year the banks crashed the entire U.S. economy. " People lost their jobs and this is what it meant for us," Brown said. "The drug dealers come in here, operate out of these buildings. The gangs break into other houses, still occupied, and they hide what they steal in these abandoned properties until things cool down. Then they fence the stuff wherever they can.

"If you were a regular person you would get a fine for leaving your property like this," he said as he walked around to the back of the house where the pies of rubble were 20 feet high. "But even when they do come and issue a fine the Bank of America ignores it - they never pay and there is never a penalty. They foreclose, they hold a mortgage but they take no responsibility."

His voice trembling and fighting back tears, Brown looked at the pile of rubble and said, "She was only a child, coming home from school and they dragged her in there last month and raped her."

Back across the street, meanwhile, Newsome's dog started barking. "It's the car that just went by," he said. "It has a bad muffler and that sets him off. I see you're talking to Charles - he knows what's going on," said Newsome. "You can't have a viable city," he said, when he was asked to comment on Chicago having been selected as the host city for the NATO conference. "You can't have a viable city unless you keep the neighborhoods viable. If you don't, Chicago will die. We'll die here first but then the city will die everywhere else."

"I came here 43 years ago and this was a beautiful neighborhood," said Brown. "Now I am ashamed, ashamed for a people who could let this happen but those banks who are responsible - they have no shame.

"They are worried about law and order downtown, at the NATO meeting but every day someone is shot here. Last week there was a dead body in this pile of garbage. Young boys have been killed."

Brown said that despite the tragedy, he and his neighbors say they are not about to give up on the neighborhood they love.

Brown is an active leader in Action Now, a group that has sprung up to fight the effects of the bank foreclosures. The group has joined labor and other groups at demonstrations against the banks.

"We are going after the banks for their predatory lending," said Eileen Kelleher, a lead organizer for the group, "and we fight on every level of government for the funding we need to rebuild. We will be relentless in going after these banks and it's a victory even if we force one mortgage holder of one abandoned property to pay for a guard on that property. 'You foreclosed on a property,' we tell them, 'and now you need to take care of it.'"

"Until they treat us the way they treat NATO," said Brown, "we won't even think about giving up."

Photo: Blake Deppe/PW

Reforming Wall Street is a job for the American people

Sam Webb — Mon, 21 May 2012 11:08:00 -0400

One would think that the near meltdown of financial markets and the larger economy only a few years ago would have dampened Wall Street's appetite for risky money-making strategies.

But the revelation that JPMorgan Chase lost more than $2 billion (reports say it could be twice as much in the end) in what was essentially speculative trading suggests that Wall Street has learned little.

Indeed one has to ask if Wall Street has learned anything at all. But then again: why would they?

For one thing, Morgan Chase and other banks of its size can still count on federal intervention with taxpayer dollars to bail them out rather than let them go "belly up." So why not make big, risky bets?
For another thing, the bank titans of the financial world are in the business of profit making, pure and simple. To do that requires that they pursue financial manipulations and speculations, which can, when successful, result in enormous financial rewards in executive compensation and bank profits - or, when unsuccessful, as we are painfully learning, bring down the economy.

In the immediate aftermath of the collapse of financial markets four years ago, placing "too big to fail" banks under public control or breaking these same banks into smaller units were part of the public conversation.

Both measures, however, were rejected by the Obama administration, the Federal Reserve and Congress. Instead, Dodd-Frank, a far from robust financial reform bill that contains rules (some still being written) to regulate financial institutions, was embraced and became law.

Since then, Wall Street and its K Street gang have been lobbying Congress and other Washington insiders to either strike out, rewrite, or water down any regulatory rules in the bill that impede their financial shenanigans.

At the head of this lobbying effort is none other than the much "celebrated" Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase. More than anybody else, he is leading the charge against Dodd-Frank and its modest regulations. Wall Street, he argues, can regulate itself. Right!

His claims have been echoed by leading Republicans, including Mitt Romney.

Of particular scorn for Dimon is the Volcker rule, named after former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker. This rule, prohibiting "proprietary trading" (banks using federally insured bank deposits - customer money - in trades for stocks, bonds, currencies, commodities, derivatives, or other financial instruments for the purpose of increasing their own accounts), is at the top of his hit list.

And until a week ago it appeared that Dimon would get his way.

The pressure to reform Wall Street had waned as a bit of stability returned to financial markets.

And in the meantime, Republicans in the House of Representatives have shamelessly introduced eight bills to take the teeth out of Dodd-Frank, including the Volcker rule.

But with the revelation of Morgan Chase's loss of at least $2 billion as a consequence of speculative trading disguised as "hedging" (insurance that is supposedly designed to protect against potential losses from other investments), proponents of more stringent regulatory reform in Congress and elsewhere have been given a second wind. Their hope is that tougher regulations can be passed now.

But no one should hold their breath. Despite the hue and cry about JPMorgan Chase's reckless behavior, Wall Street and its friends in Washington are not about to run for cover.

Indeed, as outrage over the reckless actions of Morgan Chase swells, they continue to press their case to eviscerate any restraints on their gambling.

Last week two House committees quietly gave approval to HR 1838, the Swaps Bailout Prevention Act. The bill, which will come to the House floor next month, nullifies one of the positive contributions of Dodd-Frank, the so-called Lincoln rule, which bans any federally insured financial institution, like JPMorgan Chase, from trading in derivatives (derivatives were at the center of speculative manipulations in the last crisis).

In all probability the House, notwithstanding public sentiments to rein in bankers and financiers, will approve the bill. Of course, it will have to go to the Senate where support will be more difficult to garner, although not out of the realm of possibility - which attests to the powerful reach and influence of the nation's leading financial institutions into both parties.

No matter what the outcome, this episode should teach us that the struggle for minor and major financial/regulatory reform - not to mention turning Wall Street into a public democratically run utility - cannot be left to the politicians - even the best of them. It must become the business of an aroused people. The voices of millions must shake the nation's capital, and the voting booth on Election Day.

Photo: Bank titans always played rough: J. P. Morgan, founder of J. P. Morgan bank which later became JPMorgan Chase, strikes a photographer with a stick, New York, 1909. Recuerdos de Pandora CC 2.0

Thousands converge on Chicago on first big day of protests

John Wojcik — Sat, 19 May 2012 00:13:00 -0400

CHICAGO - Thousands rallied and marched peacefully in downtown Chicago Saturday in the biggest protests so far against NATO, the relic of the cold war holding a May 20-21 summit here.

Daley Plaza in the Loop, which officially holds 5,000, was packed to capacity with crowds that spilled out into the surrounding streets and blocks. The rally was called by the nation's largest organization of nurses, National Nurses United, which had declared May 18 , the eve of a G-8 gathering in Maryland and the NATO event here, a day of national action.

Thousands of nurses wearing their red union T-shirts and thousands of their supporters demanded passage of a "Robin Hood Tax," a financial transaction tax on all Wall Street deals which the nurses say would heal the economic disaster engulfing the world.

The highlight of the colorful and festive rally was a performance by the eminent musician and guitarist Tom Morello, of Rage Against the Machine fame.

Chicago, which is Morello's native city, threatened to move the rally away from the heart of downtown when word got out two weeks ago that he would perform. Morello, to the cheers of the thousands gathered at Daley Plaza, said that it was the power of a fighting union (the nurses) and public outcry that forced the city to allow the rally to go ahead at the originally planned location.

"They couldn't shut us down because we stood up," Morello said. "It was a few politicians, their skeevy lawyers and some trembling NATO generals who caved in."

Thousands of nurses in the crowd wore green Robin Hood caps to call attention to their demand for a tax on Wall Street stocks, bonds derivatives and other financial instruments that can raise up to $350 billion yearly to mitigate the economic crisis they say was caused by the banks. "The tax will generate the revenue needed for healthcare, to create jobs, and to build schools and strengthen all basic services," said NNU Executive Director RoseAnn De Moro.

The proposed tax, as little as 50 cents on every $100 of trades, would operate like a sales tax most Americans pay on almost all the goods and services they purchase. "The key difference," said NNU Co-president Karen Higgins, RN, "is this tax targets the banks and financial institutions, not ordinary consumers, whose reckless gambling with people's homes and pensions are largely responsible for the recession that still effects people lives every day."

Members of Occupy Chicago and of a variety of unions, anti-poverty groups and community organizations were present in the crowd and when large numbers of them walked to the rally location beforehand and away from it afterward they literally formed auxiliary protest feeder marches throughout downtown. When they passed the Congress Hotel on Michigan Ave. they joined and swelled the ranks of the handful of strikers who have been picketing the hotel for years in the longest ongoing strike in America.

Police reported only one arrest all day.

According to the National Lawyers Guild that one arrest was unjustified. Police never charged the person with any crime despite extensive questioning and eventually he was released.

The NLG condemned a police raid that took place late Wednesday in the Bridgeport neighborhood where eight were arrested. Police from the city's Organized Crime Department reportedly entered an apartment with guns drawn, handcuffing people to furniture for hours. During the search they reportedly called one of the victims a "commie faggot." By Friday night, 30 hours later, three were still being held by police without charges. {Police said they suspected the arrestees were making bombs in the apartment but cops seized only beer making supplies and a cell phone.)

Community leaders around Chicago are beginning to express concern about how the unnecessarily heavy police presence downtown is draining police protection needed in the areas of the city where there is high crime.

Charles Brown, a retired Chicago cop who has owned a home in the city's Englewood neighborhood for 40 years, told the Peoples World, "There are young people raped and shot around here on a regular basis and they have all the police downtown watching peaceful demonstrators."

In Brighton Park a contingent of twelve mothers of children at the Nathans Davis Elementary School was standing guard outside the school annex all morning. They said they were there to protect their children from gang activity in the neighborhood because regular police protection was inadequate. On normal days there are at least occasional police patrols passing the school, they said, but there were none now because of the NATO summit. "For the last two days we haven't seen a single cop," one of the mothers said. "The children deserve to be safe when they go to school."

Photo: Blake Deppe/PW